Doc Ping at Work on NFL Draft Day

After one of his
clients was drafted Friday, Saline resident and NFL agent Dr. Da-I
Ping went to work to land contracts for two more of his clients.

Over the weekend,
hundreds of thousands of diehard football fans dreamed of the future
at NFL Draft parties.

The draft party held
at the home of Saline resident Dr. D.S. Ping was a little more
stressful than most.

Ping, a holistic
practitioner - turned-sports agent - spent Friday and Saturday
working the phones for his three clients, Tyrone Crawford, Chase
Baker and Rod Streater.

The three young
athletes are more than clients to Ping. Since January, theyve
lived at Pings Golfview Drive residence, using local facilities,
such as the Saline
Rec Center and Saline
High School to reach top physical condition for the challenges
ahead.

Late Saturday
afternoon, as the draft entered the late rounds, family and friends
of Ping and his clients gathered for the NFL draft party.

Crawford was still in
a celebratory mode. Friday night, the 6-foot-4-inch, 285-pound
defensive end from Windsor, Ontario, was drafted in the third round
by the Dallas Cowboys. Crawford, 22, who began playing football in
ninth grade, played as a junior at Boise State University in 2011,
racking up seven sacks and 13.5 tackles for a loss.

It was a dream come true, said Crawford. But now I want to see where Chase and Rod go.

Baker, a
6-foot-1-inch, 300-pound defensive tackle from Rocklin, CA, was a
teammate of Crawfords at Boise State, where he started since his
sophomore year. He recorded 22 tackles and was an All-Mountain West
honorable mention despite missing three games with injuries.

Streater, a 64 wide
receiver from Burlington, NJ, played 25 games over his two years at
Temple University after two years in junior college. He finished his
senior year with 19 catches for 401 yards and three touchdowns,
including a 61-yard touchdown catch in the New Mexico Bowl.

Last Saturday
afternoon, after a week of phone calls from dozens of NFL coaches and
team officials, the draft board was filling up, and Baker and
Streater began to get anxious.

As the athletes and
friends dined on party food around the television in the living room,
Ping was alone in a home office with the door closed. Surprisingly,
there was no computer on his desk or television on his wall. He
received his draft updates from those who came into his room.

I like it quiet.
Its going to get crazy and I need to be able to think, said
Ping, who has been in the sports agent business since 1983.

Ping's Foray
in to the Sports Agent Business

Ping never planned on
this career. The son of a general in the Chinese army, Ping emigrated
from China to Thailand when he was nine to escape the communist
government. A short time later, he came to the United States. After
serving with the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, Ping
settled in Ypsilanti, started a family and launched a martial arts
studio and holistic practitioner business. While coaching a little
league team in Ypsilanti, Ping invited a youngster named Rodney
Holman to come out and play baseball. Holman became an All-American
tight end in high school.

He came to Ping to ask
where he should play college football. Ping told him to avoid
Michigan and Ohio, where hed get stuck blocking, and to try a
school in the south. After four years at Tulane, Holman was drafted
by the Cincinnati Bengals, where he became an All-Pro tight end. Ping
became his agent and a new career was launched.

Draft Board
Filling Up

Early in the fifth
round Saturday, Ping received a text from the Detroit Lions, advising
him that team had interest in his players once the draft is over.
Hopeful that Baker and Streater were going to be drafted, it wasnt
what Ping wanted to hear.

Pings studies of
recent rookie NFL classes show that seventh round picks are more
likely than undrafted free agents to make the big show. There
are also financial implications to consider. A rookie free agent and
a rookie seventh-round pick will generally receive the same salary of
$375,000. But a seventh-rounder receives a $40,000 signing bonus,
while a team might sign 15 undrafted free agents who must split a
$75,000 signing bonus pool.

Still, Ping wanted his
players to be ready, so he asked them to prioritize where they wanted
to play.

Bakers list
included Minnesota, Atlanta and Green Bay. Streater chose Tampa,
Oakland, San Francisco and the New York Giants.

In the sixth round,
the calls and texts from coaches and team officials began flooding
the phones of Ping, Streater and Baker.

An official from San
Francisco texted Streater to ask him how much hed like to play for
the 49ers, using a scale of 1-10. Ping reviewed Streaters response
and then told him to add, And I want $17,000.

By the seventh round,
Ping and Streater had several conversations with Oakland, New York,
San Francisco and Tampa.

People are lining
up for him. But if you want, draft him, and all this headache goes
away, Ping told a coach from one of the teams.

Baker and Ping,
meanwhile, were zeroing in on the Minnesota Vikings, who liked what
they saw of Baker during a visit. The Vikings had three picks in the
seventh, but traded one away and used the other two on other players.
If Baker was disappointed, he didnt show it. The Vikings had
already told Ping that theyd sign Baker and offer a $10,000
signing bonus.

The
All-Important Signing Bonus

That doesnt sound a
lot like a lot of money, next to the $375,000 salary. But when a team
has only $75,000 to spend on 12-18 bonuses for 12-18 free agents, a
signing bonus can tell a player a lot about how they think hell
fit into the organization.

If youre willing
to spend $10,000 on one player, that doesnt leave much for the
rest of the guys. So that says something about how much they want
you, Ping said.

Immediately following
the draft, Ping sealed the deal with Viking officials and handed the
phone off to a beaming Baker, who told the Minnesota general manager
that he was ready to go.

From the beginning,
realistically, I knew I was on the bubble. Obviously, I would have
loved to have heard my name called. But I am excited. I took the trip
to Minnesota and I loved everything about it, Baker said. Theyre
known for a great D-line, so this is exciting.

Ping, meanwhile, was
negotiating a $10,000 bonus for Streater to sign with the Oakland
Raiders. But Streater felt slightly torn because of allegiances to
personal friends in the Giants organization.

Im just looking
for a place to prove myself. They know me and what Im about,
Streater told Ping.

But Ping noted that
the Giants were only offering a $1,000 signing bonus. And Streater
understood what that meant.

"The proof is in
the pudding," Ping said.

The Raiders called
again, and the person on the other end of the phone seemed to sense
hesitation in Pings voice.

No. He wants to be
a Raider. But hes a good kid. He feels loyalty to people he
knows, Ping told the club official.

Ping handed the phone
to Streater and then took a late call from Tampa. As Ping negotiated
with Tampa, Streater made it official and agreed to sign with the
Raiders.

Signed, Sealed
and Delivered

When it was over,
Streater was excited, but also relieved it was over.

Its exciting,
but stressful. You hear from a lot of coaches and they tell you that
youre great. But it comes down to who wants you in the end,
Streater said.

The $10,000 signing
bonus showed Streater that Oakland was serious.

With the new salary
cap on undrafted free agents, when a team offers you $10,000 it
really means that they want you, so I feel good about that,
Streater said. I made the right decision going with the Raiders.
Im going to work hard and its going to be a great year.

Crawford said he was
glad to see that all three billets at the Ping household found
someplace to go compete for jobs.

All that hard work
paid off for us, Crawford said.

He was impressed with
watching Ping in action during draft weekend.

I love to see Doc
at work. I knew he was a dog when it came down to the fight. Thats
why I picked him and thats why I love him, Crawford said.

Ping said he couldn't
have been happier with the way his big weekend turned out.

"(NFL Draft
weekend) is everything. This is my Christmas, Thanksgiving and New
Year's all rolled up into one," Ping said.

Now, he admitted, the
house will be a little empty when his players leave his home and go
off to camp.

"I'm going to
have a little bit of the empty next syndrome, I think," Ping
said.